The government plans to invite bids from private and public companies for interstate power transmission projects through reverse electronic auction on build-operate-own (BOO) basis for 35 years.
The power ministry and state-run auctioneer MSTC will soon launch a bidding platform to shift from the present manual auction process to determine the lowest bidder. The transparent reverse auction process will enable bidders to revise their bids during the live bidding process, a government official said.
The auction process will begin with bid process coordinators - the transmission wings of state-run Rural Electrification Corporation and Power Finance Corporation (PFC) - to float tenders. The coordinating agencies will call for technical bids and initial price offers, and later prune half of the technically qualified bidders, subject to a minimum of four, for the final reverse eauction.
Companies that claim lowest levelised tariffs for electricity transmission will bag the projects
REC Transmission Projects has identified two big transmission projects - transmission system connecting phase-I power generation projects in Arunachal Pradesh and NER system Strengthening Scheme-II and V — for immediate auction on the proposed bidding platform.
While a committee is likely to soon determine the estimated project cost of the two transmission projects, industry experts said the projects are expected to cost about.`700 crore each.
